In a brightly lit bar on the Norwegian Pearl cruise liner, a raucous scene was unfolding. As the ever-present thrum of muffled dance music mingled with the sounds of boisterous conversations and laughter, the vibe was certainly not Zen. But amidst the inebriated party-goers with bedazzled breasts and furry boots, Lucas Cornelis van Scheppingen (better known as Laidback Luke) moved through his martial arts routine with grace and serenity like a gently swaying palm tree in the middle of a hurricane. Completely unperturbed by the debauchery, he was warming up to teach a Kung Fu class to an eccentric assemblage of drunk ravers.

OC Weekly — John Beaver Enjoys His Double Life as a DJ and Zoo Keeper

Destiny is a concept often reserved for tall tales involving knights and princesses or epic space operas about Jedi. For Bay Area native John Beaver however, his fate was bestowed upon him at birth and his tale is indeed tall. From a young age, he knew his future would involve working with animals and when he graduated from college 16 years ago, he was immediately hired by Happy Hollow Park and Zoo in San Jose where he still works today. Accomplishing your life’s goal straight out of college is a rarity but accomplishing two life goals straight out of college is unheard of and Beaver managed to pull it off—but not without his fair share of challenges.

Mixmag — SHAMBHALA BREAKS THE FESTIVAL MOULD, TIME AND TIME AGAIN

It’s a sultry summer night somewhere in the Kootenay Mountains near Nelson in British Columbia. Normally, it’s as quaint as it sounds: the area surrounding the vibrant, heritage city described as a “hidden treasure” is encased by a lake to the West and mountains to the East.

Everfest — When a Festival Respects Local Culture, Everyone Wins

It’s an overcast afternoon in a small fishing village on the Baja Coast. Along a lumpy dirt road, brightly colored houses punctuate the landscape like Easter eggs. School has just let out and children are walking along the road in their plaid skirts and blue slacks, some carrying books and others carrying trumpets. Lumbering slowly past them in our dusty Honda Civic, we wave and smile and the greeting is reciprocated. In the town of Eréndira, Baja, Mexico, the inhabitants know that the weirdos of Genius Loci have made their annual pilgrimage and they don’t mind a bit.

It’s a chilly Thursday morning in May (by LA standards) and I don’t want to get out of bed. Wishing I had an actual snooze button to slap instead of a touchscreen to precisely tap, I blindly fondle my phone in the hopes of gaining eight more minutes of sleep. Until I remember it’s festival day, meaning there are no extra minutes to be had.

Uproxx — Vujaday Festival Is A Glimpse Into What Fyre Festival Should Have Been

“No one dances in Barbados!” At least, that’s what the local house and techno DJs tell me. During their four-on-the-floor sets at local haunts—in the land of soca, calypso, dancehall, and reggae—the dance floor is filled with chatting people, but little movement. I suppose it’s a more accurate statement to say that no one dances to house music in Barbados.

It’s another dismal February afternoon in downtown LA’s Skid Row. Home to one of the nation’s largest established homeless encampments—approximately 5,000 to 8,000 inhabitants—human apparitions wander the streets with zombie-like gaits, a forgotten community in a city known for opulence and glamour.

Mixmag — Road Trippin': Through the roots and rise of the U.S. West Coast bass scene

The unmistakable sound of muffled bass thrummed on the sidewalk on an atypical Sunday night in L.A.’s Highland Park. Inside an intimate dive bar better known for its live jazz and Monday night drag shows, writhing bodies bedecked in billowy harem pants and crystal pendants populated the dance floor. A few bar regulars were huddled in the back, watching with fascination as neo-hippies flooded through the door, their olfactory systems tickled by the unusual aroma of waffles.

Everfest — All the Hilarious Things We Overheard At Desert Hearts

In a blur of fur and sequins, Desert Heartscelebrated its 10th festival last weekend with four days of nonstop house and techno music, supernatural flow performers, dazzling fashion and enough love to warm even the most cynical heart. Nestled within the blustery oak groves of Los Coyotes Indian Reservation in northeastern San Diego County, festival-goers braved blinding dust, slapping squalls, and bone-chilling temperatures to dance with friends and family beneath the ever-hypnotic glimmer of the disco ball.

SF Weekly — Tyler, the Creator Is a Weirdo and We Love Him for It

There are a lot of weirdos in the entertainment industry and Tyler Okonma — better known as Tyler, the Creator — is one of them. To some, being weird is a lifestyle and a term of endearment, and the rest? Well, who cares about them?

LA Weekly — Can an Underground DJ Crew "Rage Balls" With a Boatload of EDM Fans?

Cruises are designed for relaxation and music festivals are designed for stimulation. Combine the two and the result is a bizarre adult playground in the Pacific Ocean, far from pesky curfews and noise ordinances, complete with waterslides, mini-golf and an endless flow of soft-serve.

UPROXX — A-Fest Is The Otherworldly Union Of Festivals And Learning Conferences

It was a balmy November morning in Montego Bay, Jamaica and I nervously awaited my turn to jump into an ice bath. I was taking this plunge under the guidance of Dutch daredevil Wim “Iceman” Hof. Arm-in-arm, a crowd of us gathered around the hot-tub-turned-ice-bath as Hof led us through a series of chants and breathing exercises, preparing our bodies and minds for the imminent trauma of being submerged in freezing water.

Everfest — Comedy Exploded in the Music Festival Scene in 2017. Here’s Why.

Laughter is one of the greatest, simplest and most under-acknowledged pleasures that music festivals offer their patrons, especially in these fractured times. In an environment where silliness is encouraged – if not required – comedy is becoming more of a fixture than a novelty. It is not only an antidote to repetitive festival lineups, but also to the daily stresses that many people endure.

Everfest — Music Festivals Are the New Faces of Activism and Philanthropy

Music festivals are unabashedly hedonistic experiences — places where dopamine and serotonin flow freely (sometimes with chemical aid and sometimes without) and where pleasure is in abundance. Stimulating your senses is priority, love is supernatural, and coincidences don’t happen by chance but by fate.

Huff Post — Damian Marley Talks About His New Album And Turning a Prison Into a Grow-Op

It’s a typical sunny morning in Los Angeles at 10am as the phone thrums against my ear. Damian Marley is on the other end, but for him, it’s 7pm as he lumbers through the German countryside on his way to London. Completing his first solo album—Stony Hill—in nearly 12 years, Marley is touring Europe and the U.S., sharing his newest creation with longtime fans.

On Saturday night, the Pink Stage at HARD Summer is brimming with a throng of hyped-up stompers and twirlers generating plumes of dust beneath illuminated pepper trees. The woman conducting this symphony of shufflers is Los Angeles–based multihyphenate (DJ, singer, songwriter, producer, radio show host) Anna Lunoe. With the grace and ferocity of a tiger, she hops atop the DJ booth clad in knee pads and commands the stage like a rock star. The fact that she's eight months pregnant doesn't deter her at all.

On a dim and misty stage, living wind-up dolls stomp and writhe while up above, a befeathered acrobat dangles from a crescent moon. A group of wigged and painted performers appears, moving across the stage as gracefully as a shoal of sardines. Dancers wield fans that are ablaze in rippling tufts of fire, which wiggle to the bass-driven, electronic calliope music, as the audience feels the warmth emanating from the flames.

Imagine walking through downtown Los Angeles toward Pershing Square as the distant pulse of house music drifts between skyscrapers. Upon entering the park, fire spurts out of a unicorn horn that's attached to a two-story stage equipped with candy-cane stripper poles, rainbow lights and a disco ball. Situated atop this pink mutant vehicle is a DJ who is bringing Pershing Square to life with funky dance beats.

LA Weekly — One Year Later, a Beloved DJ's Death Has United a Scene

On Saturday night, the basement of downtown’s Belasco Theater was thick with emotion as patrons, mostly Burning Man devotees, danced to electronic music, all clad in white. While there was no shortage of smiles in the room, the vibe was a mixture of joy and sadness, as March 25 marked the one-year anniversary of the death of DJ-producer Nicholas Alvarado, a fixture in the underground scene who went by the moniker Pumpkin.

Everfest — At CRSSD's Spring 2018 Fest, House and Techno Ruled

It was an unusually overcast day in San Diego as a curious rattling sound emanated from the bay. Droves of festival-goers shuffled toward the gates of Waterfront Park for the bi-annual CRSSD Music Festival, seemingly unperturbed by being trapped in a human glacier that dragged along the sidewalk. After passing through security—where the trash cans were filled with confiscated lip balms, cosmetics, sunscreen and lighters—an opposing mixture of patrons dressed either in sparkling festival regalia or all black, mingled on the lawn. As each of the three stages pulsated to their own unique BPM, two of the three stages were particularly magnetic (and extremely crowded).

It’s five in the morning and you’re sitting outside under the influence of delirium. The almost inaudible thump of house music pulses out of someone’s dying bluetooth speaker and the once-raucous group that brought you here is fading in and out of various states of consciousness. As the first eyelashes of sunshine begin to wink over the horizon, you remember that you are at a music festival—only you haven’t been inside the festival for hours because you’ve been raging at a campsite all night. You contemplate slogging back to your camp until the pop of a champagne cork resets your circadian rhythm and the cycle starts over.

Everfest — You Like Art with Your Music? These 12 Festivals Have Just What You Need

Have you ever stepped into a cavernous art installation so encompassing that you felt as if you were being swallowed whole? Or gaped at a painting so psychedelic that you thought you were trippin’, even if you weren’t? If you answered yes, chances are, your experience was at one of these music festivals.

Everfest — Explore Some of the Best Cities in the U.S. with These Urban Music Festivals

Images of pastel deserts, grassy knolls and viridescent woodlands are often conjured when thinking about music festivals. In most cases, this is accurate, but cities are also an ideal setting for large-scale events.

Jumpsuit Records — Youssoupha Sidibe's 'Sacred Sound' Album Review

Hailing from Senegal, West Africa is Grammy Award nominated Youssoupha Sidibe. Though he currently resides in Amherst, Massachusetts, he continues to share the story of his West African heritage through his music.

Huff Post — People in Crossett Are Dying From Pollution And The EPA Knows

Company town refers to a community whose economy relies on one firm. That is, most of the necessary services and functions of town life—employment, housing, stores, and sometimes even churches—depend on one particular enterprise to keep them afloat. For the company town of Crossett, Arkansas, the pollution-spewing smokestacks of Georgia-Pacific have turned their quaint town into a waking nightmare.

Huff Post — This Documentary Is About An Inanimate Object That Might Be Haunted

From hoarders to collectors, humans always find ways to apply sentimentality to objects regardless of their monetary value (or lack thereof). For some collectors, however, it is not just the object itself that holds value but the ghosts it may carry.

Huff Post — Let’s Talk About Sex With An Indian Man in His Nineties

Everfest — Festival All-Stars: The String Cheese Incident

An incident occurred on March 4, 2017, at Boulder, Colorado’s, Fox Theatre. In front of a howling crowd, Michael Kang, bathed in blue light, began sweetly plucking his electric mandolin as a glowing mandala encircled him like an aura.

Jumpsuit Records — The Dogon Lights 'Ride It' Album Review

At the unlikely intersection of West Africa and West Oakland you will find afrodelic-galactic-hip-hop ensemble Dogon Lights. Pronounced “doe-gone,” the name is derived from Mali’s Dogon people who are known for their animated mask dances and love of astronomy.

Everfest — Unity Defined the Global Eclipse Gathering

Few skylines can match the enchantment of Global Eclipse Gathering: Palatial spires pierced a rosy sky while cartoon-like hot air balloons drifted silently upwards. The dusty Oregon prairie was surrounded by mountains carpeted in evergreen trees as patrons in full festival regalia populated the land.

Everfest — Festival All-Star: Cameron Bowman, The Festival Lawyer

It was in the high desert beneath the palm trees and engulfing art installations of Coachella that Cameron Bowman became a born-again festival-goer. While his first taste of music festivals was decades ago at Oakland’s now defunct Day on the Green, the rigors of a life in law diverted his focus to the service of justice.

LA Weekly — Hard Summer 2017: The Best And Worst

OK, I get it. Any event that has tens of thousands of people is bound to experience some cluster-fuckery — it's unavoidable. But what went down in the HARD Summer parking lot after the event ended at its high school curfew of 11 p.m. is beyond comprehension.

Everfest — How Infrasound Has Helped The Midwestern Festival Renaissance

As attendees poured into Infrasound Music Festival in Highbridge, Wisconsin, this past weekend schlepping thick coats, warm blankets and colorful rain boots, something miraculous happened: The sun came out and out it stayed. After multiple years of relentless squalls battering Infrasound patrons and staff members — earning the nickname “Infraswamp” — festival-goers were finally blessed with the warm, summer weekend for which they have yearned.

Everfest — Why Some Say Infrasound is the Midwest's Best Music Festival

In a parakeet-green meadow that twinkled with an ever-present layer of dew, a velvety white fog crawled across the land. As the trees of the surrounding forest were swallowed by the thick cloud, the elastic sounds of bass rumbled through the mist in seismic waves.

Everfest — Festival All-Star: Tony Andrews of Funktion-One

Though you may not know the name Tony Andrews, you have probably felt his presence. The England based audio engineer and all-around aural wizard has been experimenting with sound for almost 50 years, providing speakers for clubs like Output in New York and Space in Ibiza, venues like The Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, and festivals like Glastonbury in the UK.

Everfest — Festival All-Star: Random Rab

It’s a balmy morning in the Costa Rican jungle at Envision Festival as the first wisps of sunlight stream through the canopy. Lacy shadows appear on the ground while howler monkeys awaken to sing along with one of Random Rab’s famous sunrise sets.

Everfest — In Photos: Genius Loci's Intimate Beach Fest in Mexico

In the small Mexican fishing village of Eréndira, a few hours south of Ensenada in Baja California, droves of cars bursting with camping gear lumbered through a meandering dirt road punctuated by jagged rocks. A mixture of surfers and festival-goers made the pilgrimage to Punta Cabras—an isolated beach only whispered about amongst the Southern California surfing community—for the five-day Genius Loci Fest.

Huff Post — Matisyahu Finds Peace and Reflection Through His New Album ‘Undercurrent’

At the end of a long table in a hip Los Angeles office with walls adorned in music posters and records, the scent of cleaning products and cannabis hung in the air. It was at this table that Pennsylvania-born, New York-raised MC Matthew Miller, whose Hebrew and stage name is Matisyahu, discussed the multidimensional layers of his new album Undercurrent.

Uproxx — Rooftop Deep House Yoga Is Clubbing For People Who Don’t Like Nightclubs

At the apex of a parking structure, adorned in a jungle of flora, Angelenos bedecked in the finest workout attire unfurled their yoga mats. Though the concrete was unforgiving beneath the thin layer of rubber, people sat and chitter-chattered as the unmistakable sounds of deep house music pulsed quietly in the background.

LA Weekly — DJ Hoj Is Making Daytime House Music an International Phenomenon

DJ Hoj Jomehri was finishing up his set at the BPM Festival in Mexico back in 2010 as partygoers continued to dance with liquid movements through the humid air of Playa del Carmen’s La Santanera nightclub. Night’s veil was being lifted by an imminent sunrise when Jomehri, who DJs under his first name, was approached by a friend who offered up his tropical villa (complete with sound system) as an after-hours destination.

Huff Post — From Syria To Los Angeles: A Muslim Teen’s Coming Of Age

Rudayna Aksh and her daughter Dalya Zeno fled from Aleppo to Los Angeles in 2012 and moved in with Rudayna’s son Mustafa Zeno who had already been living and studying in the U.S. Because of a previous 10-year stint more than 20 years ago, Rudayna was already granted citizenship. Even as American citizens, however, this family still faced the many challenges that Muslim Americans encounter.

LA Weekly — Asteroids and Earthquakes Has a Secret Weapon to Turn People on to Bass Music: Waffles

Multihyphenate David Westbom (DJ, producer, talent booker, event organizer) of Synaptik Events was sailing smoothly as he coordinated his first show of 2017 in February at Union Nightclub. Underground Bay Area bass producer Andrei “Andreilien” Olenev was set to headline along with fellow bass-head Ambrus “AMB” Deak, who was eager to play his first Los Angeles show since freshly immigrating from Hungary. Talent was booked, tickets were sold, buzz was built. Then, on the night of the show, Friday, Feb. 17, the fiercest storm to hit Los Angeles since 1995, according to the National Weather Service, sabotaged the event.

Elaborately decorated art cars galumph their way across rocky terrain that borders a lake as shiny as liquid mercury. A halo of voluptuous trees encircles a patch of velvety grass where festivalgoers will soon dance, cartwheel, fraternize, laugh and play. Awash with ornamentation that enhances the already colorful beauty of nature, Boogaloo Art Car and Music Festival awaits with bated breath for patrons to begin streaming in.

LA Weekly — Not Into Coachella? You Just Missed a Great Alternative: Lucidity Festival

In an oak-laden grove where acorns lay, a gurgling creek was splashed by loaded cars decorated in bumper stickers that displayed a love for music festivals, national parks and Bernie Sanders. As festivalgoers flooded in, lugging coolers and crates of camping gear, a sonic blur of various styles of electronic music thumped in the distance while a rainbow of lasers glittered through the leaves. There was no trash on the ground, no beer gardens, no designated camping areas marked by chalk lines.

The Lebanese capital of Beirut, one of humanity’s oldest cities, is still reeling from a 15-year civil war that left its citizens divided. Though the war ended in 1990, its scars endure. With thousands of buried landmines still unaccounted for and a looming threat of terrorism, the city has barely had a chance to lick its wounds.

Sitting on a furry couch in downtown L.A. surrounded by ornate porcelain sculptures and mannequins draped in sequins, electronic DJ and Desert Hearts co-conspirator Lee Reynolds drinks a beer while sharing some of his wildest stories. Like the time a battalion of police SUVs and helicopters tried to shut down a snowy mountaintop party he once threw, or how his career began in the late ‘80s not as a DJ, but as a sponsored BMX rider.

LA Weekly — The Colorful Characters of L.A.'s Underground Came Out for the Lucidity Pre-Party

As you walked up the stairwell into Union on Saturday night, the smell of palo santo, a South American wood that is burned as incense, greeted you, followed by the unmistakable sound of house music pulsing through steamy air that was so viscous it felt as if you were swimming instead of walking.

LA Weekly — The Glitch Mob's Ooah Chills Out With His Downtempo Solo Alias, Of Porcelain

It was 14 years ago when Josh Mayer, who goes by Ooah, found himself in the right place at the right time — on the dusty playa of Black Rock City during the annual Burning Man festival. Fire spewed from a geodesic dome under which Bassnectar was playing for a wild crowd. When his following act was a no-show, Mayer happened to be standing next to the stage coordinator, who asked him if he could fill in.

Huff Post — The Former Mayor of Lightning in a Bottle Paul E. Amori Runs for Mayor of Los Angeles

It was a rainy Friday afternoon at a coffee shop in Echo Park; the sidewalks were populated by little more than the occasional scurrying pedestrian when up walks a smiling man in a scarlet, three-piece suit. This man is one of the 10 candidates running for mayor on Tuesday, March 7th and his name is Paul E. Amori.

LA Weekly — AMB Left the Hungarian Electronic Music Scene for L.A. and Hasn't Looked Back

Only four months into his international migration and Ambrus Deak already looks like an Angeleno. Sipping coffee while posing for photographs at a funky outdoor cafe that’s considered a hidden gem by locals, he seems to have taken naturally to the Southern California lifestyle.

LA CANVAS — The Grateful Generation Takes Over The Globe

As the streets of downtown Los Angeles slowly cleared from Saturday’s historic rally, the city’s nightlife began to percolate. Unmistakable sounds of muffled bass pulsated out of every bar and club, luring people in with its call. At the Globe Theater on Broadway, a different breed of party animal welcomed the night. Men and women seemingly dipped in essential oils donned capes, crystals, and sequins, looking as if they just wandered off of Ken Kesey’s merry bus.

It’s late summer outside Hollywood’s Lure Nightclub and a velvety haze of cigarette smoke mingles with various incenses. Inside, the crowd is populated by people wearing regalia that would seamlessly blend into the Sgt. Pepper album cover as LED Hula Hoops rest against the wall, waiting to be unleashed.